[3830] SS CW KT0R(K0OB) SO Unlimited HP

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                    ARRL Sweepstakes Contest, CW

Call: KT0R
Operator(s): K0OB
Station: K0OB

Class: SO Unlimited HP
QTH: MN
Operating Time (hrs): 24
Radios: SO2R

Summary:
 Band  QSOs
------------
  160:    0
   80:  118
   40:  393
   20:  475
   15:  119
   10:    7
------------
Total: 1112  Sections = 80  Total Score = 177,920

Club: Minnesota Wireless Association

Comments:

Station:
C3 with 40M element @ 50 ft
B&W folded dipole @ 45 feet
500 watts
N1MM with DX Doubler for SO2R

Comments

It was great to once again be KT0R in SS. I got some nice comments from people
and saw great spots from K0RC and KE0L on the cluster. I walk away from this
one with a sense of satisfaction for not letting Murphy destroy me. Murphy does
his best when one is tired and can't think straight!

I made some changes to the station this year. My old Array Solutions SO2R box
died so I bought a DX Doubler and got coaching from K0AD on how best to use it
with N1MM. I practiced quite a bit but in the heat of SO2R it took awhile to
get comfortable with it. After 24 hours I have to say I like N1MM SO2R and the
DX Doubler. Thanks Al for your help!

The contest started well with a 78 Q first hour. I stayed on the same 20M
frequency for 5 hours! VY1EI called me just before I left 20M so that left me
pretty excited. I went until 3 AM with no breaks and went to bed needing ND,
NE, VT, and NL. My first Q back on was VT and within the hour I had ND and NL!
Yea!

Things were going well. I had a 61 hour CQing on 40 while S&P with the other
rig on 20M. Then about mid morning the second rig had out of sight SWR on the
folded dipole, which I depend on for 2nd radio Q's on 20 through 10. I kept
going while screwing around with the second rig. My rate dropped to a 38 hour
with this distraction so I took a break to figure it out. I was convinced it
was a intermittent connection in the Six Pack I use to switch antennas. I tried
a different port and things suddenly worked. I walked away to eat something and
came back only to find the SWR was out of sight again! Argh!!!! I decided to
keep going now thinking it was a intermittent connection in the coax that the
strong winds were exposing. For 2 hours I kept going with no 2nd radio Q's.
Then out of the fog my tired brain suddenly came up with the solution. It was
so windy the first thing I did on my previous break was to look outside to make
sure the folded dipole was still up. It was but I noticed my tubular tower was
really whipping around in the wind. It took my tired CW saturated brain this
long to figure out the wire on the folded dipole could be brushing up against
the tower while it whipped around, which would cause a short. I have the folded
dipole hoisted up on a rope that attaches to a pulley on the tower. Normally I
don't have problems with this. I took another break and went outside to tie the
coax to a tree so it pulled the dipole away from the tower. Problem solved!!!!

Now I was pissed with myself for my slow problem solving. I went from the
depths of despair to being fully motivated. I couldn't let down the mighty
KT0R! I was now starting to panic with no NE. I finally saw a spot for W0KT on
20M but he was weak and the pile up was huge. I kept checking in on him and
finally the pile up died down and I got him for the sweep. I also had another
NE station call me on 40M later for double insurance. The last few hours were a
blur as I pushed to break the 1100 Q mark.

I was close to pulling the plug during the several hours of no 2nd radio Q's
but, I knew Dave would keep going while looking for the answer. The many
memories I have of his determination kept me going. It's been four years now
since we lost Dave but he still is pushing me to my best. Thanks Dave.

73,

Greg K0OB


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